Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Mayor Ed Lee has reportedly given Ross Mirkarimi until 5 p.m. today to resign as sheriff or face official misconduct charges. Next move belongs to Mirkarimi, who has given no indication that he intends to leave office willingly after being sentenced yesterday to three years probation for misdemeanor false imprisonment of his wife. The Chronicle says that Mirkarimi convened a meeting of top staffers early this afternoon, although it wasn’t known what they discussed. Mirkarimi is expected to make some sort of announcement later today.

Add: Meanwhile, the circus surrounding the Mirkarimi matter expanded on a couple of fronts. Abraham Mertens, the husband of Ivory Madison, the neighbor to whom the sheriff’s wife, Eliana Lopez turned and with whom she recorded a video showing her bruised arm after the New Year’s Eve incident that got the sheriff in trouble, wrote an op-ed piece for the Chronicle accusing Lopez of pressuring Madison to destroy evidence in the case and lie to police.

More: For her part, Lopez was a no show at her own press conference outside Bill Graham Auditorium across from City Hall. She was apparently advised by her attorney that it would be best not to discuss the allegations brought by Mertens. The Bay Citizen quoted Paula Canny, the attorney, as saying that her client was “about to have a nervous breakdown, as am I.”